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Bronte’s Lovely Carrot Cake

This is the carrot cake we serve in the cafe – it is the result of a cake challenge from a guy (Jonas) who is not a big cake eater (we know). The challenge? Make the best carrot cake ever. This is the result. Maybe not better than your mamma’s – but pretty good, if we may say so ourselves. Gently spiced, with crunch from the pinenuts and tons of flavour and moisture from the carrots plus a lush layer of tangy cream cheese topping – and very easy to make. Go on, give it a go!

Turn the oven on 170 degrees Celsius.
Whisk the sugar and egg until light and airy, gradually adding the sunflower oil.
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and fold into the egg mixture. Fold in the carrots and the pinenuts.
Pour into a large tin (about 25x35cm) and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until done (when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean). Leave to cool.

To make the topping, whisk all the ingredients well and spread over the cooled cake. Add some grated carrots and lime zest to decorate.

Ryttarkaka – Sticky Chocolate & Coconut Cake

A classic mixture of two much loved cakes: The sticky chocolate cake and the topping that goes on the Dream cake – gooey coconut. So very delicious!

It is very important not to over bake this – the base needs to be gooey, as in Brownie gooey and a bit more. Some Swedes like this almost runny – I do prefer it just set. Watch out on the baking time – as soon as the chocolate cake can take the topping so it does not seep into the batter, this is when you add it. Then you bake until golden on top and still gooey in the middle.

Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the chocolate and stir (it will melt)

Whisk eggs and sugar until very airy and light in a stand mixer.

Combine salt, flour and vanilla (if using vanilla powder, if liquid add to the sugar and egg).

Sift in the flour and combine, add the melted butter and chocolate and fold until smooth.

Pour into a 20x30cm lined baking tins and bake for around 10-12 minutes until just setting. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat up the ingredients for the topping on a slow heat until combines and liquid. As soon as the top as set on the chocolate base, carefully pour over the coconut topping evenly. Bake for a further 10 minutes – if needed – and keep checking, ensuring the toping does not go too dark.

The cake is ready to have the topping on when the top of the chocolate has just set, so do check. If the chocolate cake has baked too quickly, simply don’t leave the topping in for the full ten minutes but take out early.

Leave to cool down, the serve. It is fine if the middle is sticky and under baked – this is how a Swedish Sticky chocolate should be. Better under baked than over-baked.

Cinnamon Bun Day

The countdown is on to Sweden’s most favourite day of the year. No, not Kalles Kaviar-day. No, not Snabbmakaronens day… We are, of course, talking about Cinnamon Bun Day (Kanelbullensdag)

Oh, glorious cinnamon bun. Adopted and bastardised by the Americans (that’s when you know you’ve made it in life) who covers them in icing and caramel and we don’t even know (Swedes will never do that). But what we do know is this – a cinnamon bun, whichever way it comes, is lovely. Comforting in its aromatic, plush little curvy self – as delicious with a cup of strong black coffee for breakfast, as with a glass of ice cold cordial on a sunny summer afternoon or split in half and turned into Swedish French toast (oh yes we did!).

Enough talk – on to the buns. This year, as every year – we’d love to see your buns. Big buns, small buns, wonky buns, shiny buns, plain buns or perfect buns. Rolled or knotted or swirled or #failed.

Use #ShowUsYourBuns on social media so we can find you!

There’s only one rule – they have to be homemade, by you alone or as a team effort, and contain cinnamon (OK, that’s two rules). Take a picture and email it to us – we will share the best ones on our instagram and Facebook page. We may pick a lucky winner, too – one lucky person wins a copy of our new book Nørth and a big box of Scandinavian goodies (we’re talking chocolate, liquorice and more).

Our Favourite Cinnamon Bun Recipes

There are as many cinnamon bun recipes as there are parents and grandparents – each claiming theirs to be the ultimate one, producing the softest, most cinnamon-y, comforting little bakes ever. But really – how wrong can you go when it comes to cinnamon buns? We are yet to meet a bun we didn’t enjoy.

Here are some of our favourite recipes – in no particular order.

Classic Cinnamon Buns. Our go to dough for buns – sometimes filled with cinnamon, other times jazzed up with chocolate Always delicious – and easy to do.

WIN! A Big Lovely Fika Bundle

Fika must be our all time favourite Swedish word. The concept of a little break in your day, with coffee and maybe something sweet, or even better – a conversation with someone you find interesting, is lovely. Just the right antidote to a hectic day-to-day.

So – this week, we’re giving you a chance to win a big bundle of everything you need. A selection of treats and pastries from Delicato, mini cinnamon buns (gifflar) and a big bag of pick’n’mix, a bag of our favourite Swedish coffee and a signed copy of ‘Fika & Hygge’.

Fancy winning this and inviting your friends over for a little fika? Just answer this simple question for a chance to win..

It Is Time For Summer Fika

Scandinavian people love their coffee. Norwegians are in the top of coffee consumption but Sweden and Finland consume the most cups of coffee per day in the world. So to say the least – Scandinavians are well caffeinated!

But when having a Fika in the summer it is sometimes nice to cool down with a cold drink. If there is no ice coffee available Scandinavians love to make a jug of ‘saft’ – cordial. This cold drink matches any favourite nibbles such as cookies, pastries or cinnamon buns. What Fika truly stand for and what you need to have to create the best Fika moment you can find here. And here you can find 10 ways to Fika so that you can find your new favourite.

Fika – The Connoisseur’s Guide to Cake & Drink Pairings

Aaaaah, Fika. That untranslatable, slightly odd-sounding Swedish word which encompasses so much loveliness. Fika may just be our favourite Swedish word ever.

Not sure what Fika is? Here’s an in-depth explanation of the meaning of ‘Fika’ for you. In essence, fika can be described as follows; ‘meet up, have a coffee and a chit-chat’. It often also includes something baked, sweet and comforting.
Fika can be a bit of a challenge – how on earth are you meant to decide on which treat to enjoy? Well – fear no more, we have asked our leading lady in the café, beautiful Tina, to share her best cake and drink pairings for us. Over to Tina;

10 Tasty Ways to Fika

Cinnamon Bun & Americano
The body of an americano can stand up to the enriched dough of a cinnamon bun, and that sticky-sweet spicy centre and crunch of pearl sugar brings out the natural sweetness of our lovely roasted Monmouth coffee. Good morning! (Or any time of day, to be honest.)

Punschrulle & Espresso
For an instant, intense hit, you can’t go wrong with our strong, aromatic coffee cutting through rich marzipan-chocolate, followed by that subtle liquor-flavoured kick. This powerful combination is a guaranteed pick-me-up. If Punschrulle isn’t your thing, try one of our other sweet Delicato treats on offer.

Kladdkaka & Organic Fog Green Tea
The Wild Card. The intense sweetness of this brownie-cake is tempered by the smoky, leafy flavour of the green tea, which refreshes the palate of the cake’s stickiness and the accompanying whipped cream’s richness (and helps you feel slightly less guilty for your indulgence).

Apple and Cinnamon Cake & English Breakfast
Cinnamon goes wonderfully with a classic black tea, and the bright, fresh bite of the sweet apples and vanilla creme complements the subtle astringency of the tea’s tannins. Our Apple Cake is also the top choice for a breakfast cake, so this union was clearly meant to be.

Banana and Pecan Cake & O’Boy Hot Chocolate or Mocha
Chocolate, bananas and pecan nuts – can there be a better combination? Throw in a shot of coffee for that extra kick. To dial up the exotic nature of the cake’s ingredients, have your hot O’Boy/mocha made with coconut milk.

Love Cake & Latte
Just enough coffee to compliment the mocha-coconut topping without detracting from the flavour of the cake or overwhelming your tastebuds, whilst the silky milk goes wonderfully with that decadent chocolate sponge.

Carrot Cake & Peppermint
Peppermint rounds off the sweetness of the cream cheese icing, complimenting the zesty lime on top, whilst bringing out the flavour of the pine nuts, but is delicate enough to let the soft, spicy sponge dominate.

Dream Cake & Cappuccino or Flat White
A stronger coffee flavour cuts the the caramel-sweetness of the coconut topping, whilst bringing out the vanilla aroma of the sponge, and the light, fresh milk brings together and rounds off the flavours and textures of the cake.

Tosca Cake & Swedish Filter Coffee
Thinner but flavoursome coffee softens the dense, marzipan-enriched sponge, and the coffee cuts through and heightens the intense caramel crunch of the almond topping. (I like to dip my Tosca cake into my filter coffee like some kind of fika heathen – but trust me: try it once and you’ll be a convert to the true British tradition of dunking forever.)

Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Orange Brownie & Earl Grey
The bergamot of the Earl Grey compliments the orange of the brownie beautifully and the tea’s brightness lightens up the strong, dark chocolate.

..if that made you fancy a fika – call a friend and head over to our café. Or, browse our range of Scandi cakes and biscuits for a little Swedish Fika-feeling delivered to your door.

The Danes love a nice piece of cake or biscuit with their coffee. This biscuit/cake is called Hindbærsnitter in Danish and literally translated this means Raspberry Slices.

These are very simple to make – and you can make them fancy or basic.

It’s basically two pieces of sweet shortcrust pastry, baked, then layers with raspberry. Topped with a nice layer of white icing – and then whatever you fancy on top (we like freeze dried raspberries, but the traditional recipe called for hundreds-and-thousands).

Recipe: Raspberry Slices (Hindbærsnitter)

Recipe Type: Fika

Cuisine: Danish

Author: Bronte Aurell

Prep time: 60 mins

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 1 hour 12 mins

Serves: 14

An old Danish biscuit/cake to have with your afternoon coffee.

Ingredients

350g plain flour

200g cold butter

125g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar or seeds from one vanilla pod

A pinch of salt

1 egg

200g good quality raspberry jam (i often add mashed raspberries to mine to make the result a bit more tart)

In a food processor, add the cubed cold butter and flour and sugar. Blits a few times to start the mixing.

Add the remaining ingredients and blitz again until the dough starts forming. It’s done as soon as it is smooth and holds together.

Pop the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest – this will make it easier to roll out.

On a floured surface, add half the dough and roll out to 25 x 25 cm. Transfer to a lined baking tray.

Repeat with the second piece of dough.

Pop both trays in the fridge again for 10-15 minutes.

Turn the oven to 200C/400F/GM5

Bake until golden (10-12 minutes, depending in your oven), then remove from the oven and leave to cool for just a few minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare your icing: Add the icing sugar to a bowl and add 2-4 tablespoons of hot water – you may need more water than this, but start with 3-4. Stir, adding more water if needed, until you have a thick icing with the texture of syrup (i.e. not too runny).

On the still slightly warm pastry, add the jam and spread carefully and evenly all over. Add the second pastry on top so it lines up.

Carefully, using a spatula, smear the icing across the large cake. If your icing is too thick, it wont work – and too runny, it will spill everywhere, so test a little corner first and adjust accordingly.

As soon as you have spread your icing, add your toppings.

You have two choices at this point: Cut while pastry is a little bit warm (this is easier) – or pop the entire thing in the fridge to harden up and then carefully cut to precision when cold. Either way, when you cut, do so with a sharp big knife, in clean precise swoops.

First, cut all the sides off so you have an even cake – then cut into 10-16 pieces (depending on how big you prefer them to be). We cut 14 from this recipe.

Every December, Swedes travels to our shop from afar to get hold of saffron powder so they can make Lucia buns. Saffron powder is ground saffron and gives off a very intense yellow colour and flavour. If you cannot get hold of saffron powder, use strands but grind them slightly and infuse them in the milk before using to maximise the colour.

Saffron buns are eaten all throughout December – but mainly for the day of St Lucia on 13th December.

You can shape the buns into the traditional ‘S’ shape or even make a saffron plaited loaf.

Our Bronte is Danish and likes to cut her saffron bun open and spread with butter. All Swedes laugh at her in disbelief. She doesn’t care because it’s really really nice. But if you chose to do it, don’t tell the Swedes or they may deport you to Lapland or something.

Approximately 700-800g plain bread flour such as – Vetemjöl or strong Canadian Bread Flour

Handful of raisins

Egg for brushing

Instructions

Heat the milk to about 38°C. Add the yeast and milk to a mixer with a dough attachment. Mix until the yeast has dissolved, then add the saffron powder.

Add the sugar, salt, quark and mix well. Begin to add the flour gradually while mixing, and egg. Add the softened butter. Keep adding flour until you have the right consistency. Keep mixing until you have a dough that is still sticky, but doesn’t stick to your finger too much when you poke it. Too much flour makes the saffron buns dry out quickly. If you’re using an electric mixer, leave it to knead for about 5 minutes, or knead by hand for 10 minutes. Leave the dough to rise until doubled in size.

Knead by hand, using just enough flour that you’re able to work with the dough but it doesn’t stick. Add enough flour to make it so that you are just able to work with the dough in your hands. Cut the dough into around 24 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece in your hand into a cylinder, then transfer to a lined baking tray and mould into an ‘S’ shape (see the picture). Add a single raisin to the centre of where the ‘S’ shape curves (two raisins for each bun) and leave to rise again for around 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°c. then brush gently with egg and pop them in the hot oven for around 10-12 minutes. The buns should have a very slight tinge of brown on top, but not so much that it stops the nice yellow colour from showing. Turn down the heat a bit if you find the buns are getting too brown.

Leave to cool under a damp tea towel (this prevents them from going dry) as soon as you take them out of the oven.

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